Let The Right One In

[LuigiD]

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Couldn't find a thread about it so I figured I would make one.
Anyone ever see this? holy shit..I saw it over the weekend. It is probably the best vampire film I have seen in years. I liked it so much that I even got the book and started reading it. It is like a dark well written version of Twilight. The film is pretty much about a young boy who falls in love with a vampire who has the body of a 13 year old but seems to be extremely old. Lots of weird elements in the story such as pedophilia and sexual relationships among children play in. The Swedish setting also makes it much more interesting.

[Swiss Ultimate]

But where are the teen heart-throbs and unhealthy romantic relationships?

[Kalyx triaD]

There's an old thread somewhere but the search engine won't find it. I'll use this thread to update us on the American remake then. Original's a great movie, wonder if the fans will complain about the remake ruining childhoods somehow.

[FakeLaser]

I love this movie

[El Capitano Gatisto]

Great film, great book too. The Twilight comparison is very far off the mark.

[Danny Electric]

I agree with ECG, great film and book. They both bring something different to the table.

As usual there is some American version coming out soon.

[Downunder]

Oh well the yanks will fuck that up as well.

Great movie, awesome atmosphere.

[LuigiD]

Unfortunate to say, but most American re-makes are absolutely awful.
Specially disappointed with Insomnia and Vanilla Sky. I heard they were making an American version of the Edukators. Loved the original but I can just picture a cliche American indie rock version.

[mitch_h]

Loved this movie, only the Swedes can take something gay like vampire movies and turn it into an atmospheric meditation on adolescence and lonliness.

[Kalyx triaD]

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Jean Kalyx Likes This.

[Swiss Ultimate]

There's an old thread somewhere but the search engine won't find it. I'll use this thread to update us on the American remake then. Original's a great movie, wonder if the fans will complain about the remake ruining childhoods somehow.

I think it was mine.

[El Capitano Gatisto]

That looks pretty bad.

[LuigiD]

Not really liking the trailer.
My feelings are..the Swedish version is completely fine. I loved it. What can the American version bring to the table that the Swedish version did not bring? as of now, judging from the trailer, the imagery and atmosphere of the film are also not nearly as grim as the original.

[El Capitano Gatisto]

The re-make looks about as subtle as a sledgehammer, if that trailer is a good representation of the film as a whole. The original was remarkably subtle and weirdly touching. I would have guessed from the beginning that any American re-make may leave out the part about Eli not actually being a girl.

[LuigiD]

Another thing that a lot of people don't seem to get is the fact that Oskar's dad is not gay? just because a guy comes over late at night to drink does not mean they are fucking. The dad is just an alcoholic.

[Kalyx triaD]

It looked gay to me. I figure it was an allegory to Oskar and Eli's relationship (the hair convinced me).

BTW, I don't mind at all that Eli's gender ambiguity is chopped in this version. Unnecessary element, imo.

[LuigiD]

The director stated that it was a problem that the American audience faced. Two guys hanging out and drinking beer late at night is seen as gay while to others it just seems as people being drunkards.

Is there a back story for the boy and his father's relationship? We never seem to get into their relationship and understand it?

Alfredson: Yes. This came as a surprise to me, but in several screenings people have asked me if the father was a homosexual.

Right. I didn't want to say that, but it does appear like that.

Alfredson: Okay. It never entered my mind, but I think that's a cultural difference between the USA and Sweden. In Sweden we do come over to each other without –


I understand.

Alfredson: So that's a big difference, and if you live in the countryside people will walk over to each other and have a glass of vodka or whiskey or whatever. So that's not a big thing for Swedes. But it was a surprise to me that people though the was a homosexual. His father is an alcoholic and uses the alcohol before his son every time it's attempted. So that's the tragic back story and this is also a portrait of the author's own father who drank himself to death some years ago. It's a very autobiographical story.


http://www.latinoreview.com/news/exclusive-interview-tomas-alfredson-on-let-the-right-one-in-5566

The sexual part I do agree with. If you listen to the commentary extra in the film, the director states that he wishes he would have not done it or fleshed it out more. In the book the sexual ambiguity part is a bigger deal and is explained better. In the movie it just sort of ends up confusing for a lot of people and is not properly explored.

[Downunder]

I honestly never thought the father was gay, still struggling as to why anyone would think that.

[DaBrasko]

Loved the original. The remake will most likely be a let down but I'll watch it and bitch about things that shouldn't have been change and I'll only have myself to blame for the aggravation :)

[El Capitano Gatisto]

I honestly never thought the father was gay, still struggling as to why anyone would think that.

Same here. Not sure in any way why a person would think that, there is literally zero allusion to it.

[El Capitano Gatisto]

BTW, I don't mind at all that Eli's gender ambiguity is chopped in this version. Unnecessary element, imo.

On the contrary, it's completely necessary, however, I do agree that it wasn't done properly in the original film either and people watching without knowledge of the book may have been confused. Although with Eli clearly saying "I'm not a girl" the hint should have been picked up.

But Eli not actually being a girl is rather important for various reasons.

[DaBrasko]

I always took Eli saying "I'm not a girl" as it meaning "I'm not human".

[El Capitano Gatisto]

Yes, well, that's not it. Eli means he is a boy who had his penis cut off.

[DaBrasko]

Ohhhhhhhhh. I'm assuming this is something they explained more in the book?

[Kalyx triaD]

I always took Eli saying "I'm not a girl" as it meaning "I'm not human".

That was my first thought, and I still like it better than Oskar being a vampire-boy lover.

[DaBrasko]

That was my first thought, and I still like it better than Oskar being a vampire-boy lover.

Agreed.

[El Capitano Gatisto]

If you like it better it's because you've missed the point of the story, that being loneliness and isolation. Oskar and Eli are not lovers, they are kindred spirits.

Eli is forever trapped as a pre-pubescent child, his sexuality never developed despite being centuries old. Oskar is too young to be homosexual or heterosexual. Reading sexuality into it is for fuckwits.

Indeed the book does go, a small way, into describing how Eli became a vampire and how he was castrated. Further, in the book Eli's adult partner is a paedophile who is obsessed with Eli and feels having a romantic relationship with her is fine (i.e. Eli the girl) because, although physically a child, Eli is in reality much older than anyone else. But physically and mentally Eli is still a child, Eli does not want a lover but wants an assistant and, having met Oskar, a friend.

So the story is about Eli and Oskar finding and accepting each other. Oskar is a bullied boy with an obsession over violent murders, Eli demonstrates the strength Oskar needs to over-come the bullies. The fact that Eli is actually a boy and Oskar has no problem accepting this, it's fundamental to their relationship. Eli dresses, speaks and acts like a girl so it essentially doesn't matter in terms of their pre-pubescent romantic relationship because there is no sex involved.

[Kalyx triaD]

Movie > Book

[Kalyx triaD]

http://cache-01.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2010/07/let-me-in-poster.jpg

[Kalyx triaD]

http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2010/07/_1280161548.jpg

[FakeLaser]

This remake is going to suck cock

The original film is perfect.

[Kalyx triaD]

Here we go.